CCST Cybersecurity Certification Cram Notes

5.0 Incident Handling

5.4 Describe the elements of cybersecurity incident response

The elements of cybersecurity incident response encompass the policies, plans, procedures, and stages involved in effectively responding to and managing security incidents. Here's an overview of these elements, based on the NIST Special Publication 800-61:

1. Policy: A cybersecurity incident response policy sets the overarching guidelines and principles that govern an organization's approach to incident response. It outlines the objectives, scope, roles, responsibilities, and authority related to incident response activities. The policy provides the foundation for developing incident response plans and procedures.

2. Plan: A cybersecurity incident response plan (IRP) is a documented framework that outlines the specific steps, actions, and resources required to respond to security incidents. It defines the roles and responsibilities of incident response team members, communication channels, incident classification criteria, incident handling procedures, and coordination with external entities. The plan is tailored to the organization's specific environment, risks, and regulatory requirements.

3. Procedures: Incident response procedures provide detailed instructions for executing specific tasks and actions during each stage of the incident response lifecycle. These procedures include steps for incident identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned. Procedures may cover activities such as evidence preservation, data analysis, system restoration, communication with stakeholders, and legal or regulatory reporting.

4. Incident Response Lifecycle Stages: The incident response lifecycle consists of several stages that guide the overall process of handling a security incident. The NIST Special Publication 800-61 outlines the following stages:

Preparation: This stage involves activities such as establishing an incident response team, defining roles and responsibilities, developing incident response plans and procedures, identifying communication channels, and conducting training and drills.
Detection and Analysis: During this stage, security incidents are detected, confirmed, and analyzed to understand their nature, scope, and impact. It includes activities such as monitoring systems, analyzing log files, conducting forensics, and identifying indicators of compromise (IOCs).
Containment, Eradication, and Recovery: In this stage, the focus is on containing the incident, mitigating further damage, eradicating the root cause, and restoring affected systems and data. This may involve isolating affected systems, removing malware, patching vulnerabilities, and implementing corrective actions.
Post-Incident Activity: After an incident is resolved, post-incident activities take place, including conducting a post-mortem analysis to identify lessons learned, documenting the incident response process, updating incident response plans and procedures, and implementing measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Each stage of the incident response lifecycle requires close coordination, communication, and documentation to ensure a thorough and effective response. Incident response teams should follow established policies, plans, and procedures to minimize the impact of security incidents, preserve evidence, and facilitate recovery while maintaining compliance with applicable laws and regulations.